End User Computing blog

Upgrading VMware App Volumes to 2.11 Step by Step

Following on my previous blog post announcing the release of App Volumes 2.11 and the release notes, here is the upgrade process as promised.

In version 2.11 you can still cannot upgrade directly, the process has not changed and you are required to manually remove previous versions of App Volumes before installing the latest version (2.11).

First make sure you have downloaded the media from your My VMware portal

Upgrade the App Volumes Manager

Be sure to organise a maintenance window for the upgrade so users are not affected.

Prerequisites:

1. Detach all App Stacks and Writable Volumes before the upgrade

2. Take a snapshot or backup of the App Volumes server

3. Note the ODBC settings on the App Volumes server – IMPORTANT make sure you know the SQL database connection credentials

4. Create a backup of the App Volumes SQL database

Upgrade Steps

1. Uninstall previous versions of the App Volumes Manager using the Programs and Features applet

You have the option to unmount all attached volumes if you forget to do this in the prerequisites

2. Install the new version of App Volumes

Mount the App Volumes ISO

Navigate to the Installation folder and run setup.exe

Click Next

Accept the License Agreement

Select install App Volumes Manager and click Install

Wait for the App Volumes Manager Installation Wizard to load and click Next

Select Connect to an existing SQL Server database.

* If you are not upgrading and installing for the first time you can choose to install a local SQL Express database but do your homework on the limitations. It is best practise to have you database on a separate SQL server but not everyone has one available. SQL Express is meant for small deployments and is fine for demo’s and POC’s

Enter your local or remote database Name and credentials to connect to it and click Next

* Do not check the box to overwrite the database if you are performing the upgrade.

Choose the Network Ports (select defaults unless required to change) and click Next

Choose the local location to install App Volumes Manager to and click Next

Click Install.

The installation will take 5 – 10 minutes. Click Finish once its complete.

Review the settings and click Install and then Finish once the Wizard is complete.

You will then be prompted to restart the machine. Once its rebooted, login to the machine with an account an App Stack or Writable Volume assigned to test the upgrade has been successful and the user receives the assignments.